1. Field
The present invention relates to the field of data security. More particularly, this invention relates to a platform and corresponding method for protecting content through multiple content control.
2. General Background
For over fifty years, the entertainment industry has provided audio-visual information to the general populous in the form of television programming. When transmitted in an analog format such as National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) or Phase Alternating Line (PAL), this programming is somewhat protected due to the inherent nature of analog signaling. For example, analog signals are troublesome to illicitly copy and redistribute. Also, the recorded copies have poorer image quality than the original programming.
Due to advances in digital processing technology and acceptance of the Internet, digital content distribution is now growing in popularity. Presently, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are providing personal computers with open, programmable architectures that are capable of receiving and/or transmitting audio-visual information in a digital format. In many instances, the digitized audio-visual information is encrypted before transmission and decryption upon receipt. Thus, most conventional personal computers only rely on a single content protection mechanism (e.g., encryption and decryption) that either provides programming in full quality or prevents the programming from being displayed. Due to a lack of multiple content protection mechanisms, conventional computers are unable to protect the decrypted, digitized video from being observed by an unauthorized user or manipulated (e.g., copied, altered, etc.) by a malicious program during playback. This has greatly impeded the expansion of digital content distribution.
Therefore, it would be desirable to create a platform and method for protecting digital content through hardware-based identification and a variety of content protection mechanisms to achieve a selected level of access control.
Briefly, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a content distribution system. The content distribution system comprises a server platform and a client platform. The server platform includes a memory unit to store digital content and access control logic to activate content protection mechanisms that provide multiple levels of access protection to the digital content. In communication with the server platform, the client platform plays back segments of the digital content at one of a plurality of quality levels.